Time Team to end in 2013

The television show that showed off the archaeological riches on the United Kingdom will be coming to an end in 2013. Time Team, which ran for 18 years on Britain’s Channel 4, will be airing one more season next year.

The series featured a roving team of archaeologists who dig at a different site each week in order to uncover the mystery of what lies beneath. Ranging from prehistoric to early modern sites, Time would give themselves only three days to excavate the area and see what they found. They have explored the remains of cathedrals, castles, monasteries and houses that had disappeared hundreds of years earlier.

Ralph Lee, Head of Factual at Channel 4, said “I am incredibly proud that, as well as providing hundreds of hours of education and entertainment on Channel 4, Time Team has invested, over and above production costs, more than £4m in archaeology in Britain over the past 18 years. Time Team will continue to be on our screens for at least a further two years and we are discussing other ideas around archaeology with Tim Taylor, Time Team’s creator and the production team behind it.”

The host of the series, Tony Robinson, added “Time Team was not only high-quality public service television, it also attracted a large and passionate audience both in the UK and overseas. I’m proud to have been associated with it.”

Channel 4 will continue to feature some shows related to British archaeology and history, incluidng The King in the Carpark, which will feature the dig in Leicester for the remains of Richard III.

Commissioning Editor for History Julia Harrington says: “Channel 4 history is all about bringing the past to life in eye-opening, entertaining and innovative ways, from the best archaeological scoops, to big factual dramas such as The Mill, to experiential formats such as Hilary Devey’s Dole Office, and Guy Martin on our industrial past in the current series How Britain Worked.”

Channel 4 is working with broadcaster Tony Robinson on a brand new history series Walking through History for which he has devised four walks through major stories in British history: from charting the Second World War along the Dorset coast to the progress of industrial revolution in the Derbyshire Peak district, the Jacobin rebellions in the Scottish Highlands and the source of Tudor noblemen’s’ power in the Kent Weald.

Twenty years of Time Team will be celebrated in the last programme of the final series in 2013 – looking back over the highs and the lows, the people and the places and the achievements of a series which ran for over 250 episodes.

The digs have provided a wealth of information and research material currently stored by Wessex Archaeology. Channel 4, along with the programme makers Videotext and Picture house TV will work to maintain this archive as part of Time Team’s academic legacy.